By The Way
by Anita
Summary: After the Christmas party and finally getting together with Cliff, Mindy decides to make some changes.
1. Prologue

This takes place after 2x11 Christmas Party Sex Trap and has spoilers up until that point but none beyond. This is my take on one possible way things could proceed after that fateful Christmas party. It's silly and OOC and just a little bit of wish fulfilment, so bear with me. :P Also, this is my first TMP fic! Please read and enjoy.

Prologue

Mindy thought once she had her romantic moment outside in the snow with Cliff that everything would be okay. There may have been a few hiccups in her plan along the way but ultimately she got what she wanted.

But apparently she wasn't the same old Mindy anymore.

"Wait, wait, I'm not crazy." Mindy had huffed at Cliff as they'd shared their big First Kiss Moment. And honestly, a year ago she would have thought nothing of his rude comment. But after Josh ("You don't look like the type of girl that could faint.") and Casey ("I'm not saying you're a bad person I just hold myself to an impossibly high standard. I don't want that to make you feel bad about who you are.") she couldn't help but want to stand up for herself.

She was sick of these relationships where she felt she had to filter herself or mould her personality into something it wasn't. Weren't her boyfriends supposed to care about her unconditionally? So then why were they always so critical?

She was far from perfect but she was still proud of who she was.

Not to mention she had started to realize what it felt like to truly be respected by another.

Her thoughts wandered back to Danny for the millionth time since the Christmas party. Over the past couple of months Danny had actually been so considerate and thoughtful and then that Secret Santa gift? Wow!

But was there more to it than just friendship and mutual respect?

There was already too much Mindy was trying to work through in her mind, The Danny Thing was going to have to wait.

First she had to break up with her Dream Man.


	2. Matter-of-Fact Aftermath

It wasn't often that there was a quiet day of work at Shulman & Associates. Typically there was some sort of fiasco – usually of the Mindy Lahiri variety – to disrupt the day. Yet lately things had been so calm and monotone. Almost a little boring. There hadn't been much excitement following Christmas and to top it off, on this particular day, Mindy had barely stepped foot outside of her office let alone caused any trouble.

Danny had to admit he was concerned. This wasn't like her at all. When he finished seeing his last patient, Danny moved to knock on Mindy's office door only to find it already partially open. He stepped inside.

"Mindy?"

He found her sitting on the carpet, cross-legged, staring out the window. She didn't even turn to look his way as he entered, seemingly lost in thought.

"Uh-oh, you're on the ground again, Mindy? Don't tell me you had another breakup!" Danny joked, closing the door and deciding to take a seat beside her on the floor.

She gave him a half-smile. "How did you know?"

He paused. "Wait really? You broke up with Cliff?!"

"Yeah."

Danny was a little bit perturbed. He had never witnessed a Mindy Lahiri Breakup that was so...undramatic!

Something was up.

Danny swallowed, feeling as if he was treading into dangerous territory. But this was important. "So what happened then?"

Mindy finally turned to look at him, exhaling softly. "Cliff wasn't the One, I realize that now. And I think it's time I took a break from dating."

Danny gaped at her calm reply.

"Mindy are you feeling okay?" Danny placed his hand on her forehead feeling for a temperature.

"I'm fine, Danny!" She insisted.

"But you never stop dating. That's...your thing!" Danny's eyes narrowed slightly. "What did Cliff do to you?"

"Nothing. Honest." Mindy sighed. "I think I just need some time to myself. I need time to..." she bit her lower lip, shook her head dismissively. "I need to really figure out the kind of guy I'm looking for, the kind of guy I want."

"Well none of the tools you've been dating so far are it, that's for sure." Danny muttered.

"Exsqueeze me?" Mindy exclaimed.

But damn him, he was right. No more douchebags on the Mindy Lahiri Roster of Datable Men!

"Never mind." Danny backtracked. He paused before giving her his most sincere look. "You sure you're okay?"

Mindy nodded resolutely. "I'm not even going to take any of my Heartache Days."

Danny grinned back at her. "That's good to know. I'm here if you need me, okay Min?"

She smiled, the brightness returning to her eyes. "I know, Danny."

With a squeeze of her shoulder he got to his feet and quietly left her alone with her thoughts.

Mindy took in a deep breath, squaring her shoulders. It was official now; the words were out of her mouth and now it was real. No dating. Not for the time being at least. First she needed to take a step back, to reflect, to see where she kept going wrong and fix it.

And maybe after, once she'd truly sorted out her feelings, maybe she could talk to Danny about –

But it seemed that After would have to wait for just a little while longer.

* * *

This is pretty much something that would never happen on the show. Mindy not dating. And taking the time to be self-reflective and work on herself. It doesn't make for good comedy! ;) But I needed it in my fic so there you go...


	3. Hit Me Baby One More Thai

Mindy was so proud of herself. It had been a couple months and she had stuck to her No Dating rule! She'd spent more hours on the phone with Rishi when she could, had more time for coffee with Gwen and Alex and Maggie, was able to devote more of herself to building up the practice. A life without Boy Drama was...nice.

That isn't to say she didn't miss guys, but she was noticing that as time went on she was too busy to remember to miss them.

And then there was Danny. In the beginning of her little No Dating experiment he had seemed unsure of it all, as if he didn't believe she was being serious. But as time went on Mindy noticed that Danny seemed, well, impressed.

Mindy also noticed that - consciously or not - Danny seemed to be starting up a No Dating era of his own. He hadn't seriously dated anyone since Christina. But it wasn't like the last time, he wasn't heartbroken and guarded. He seemed more sure of himself, more comfortable in his own skin; Mindy was happy for him.

Not that she'd ever actually tell him any of that. That might be weird. Wouldn't it?

It was the end of the week, time to head home. Mindy sighed admiringly as she took in the view of New York City in front of her. God, she loved this city.

_February. The month where new lovers grow closer and old soulmates remember why they fell in love in the first place. It's not freakishly cold like December and January but there's still gorgeous snow to adorn the landscape with a romantic winter glow –_

"Mindy." She felt Danny's arm nudge her. "You're narrating out loud again."

She nudged him back harder. "I narrate out loud on purpose, Danny! The world needs to hear my insightful observations."

"Well then please let me know your thoughts on how to deal with crazy people who talk to themselves." Danny shot her a teasing grin.

Things had been going so well for them the past little while. No intense arguments or drama. Okay, they still argued all the time but in the nice way. She enjoyed walking home with Danny, it was never awkward or forced; conversation would flow easily.

"Any plans for the weekend, Danny?" Mindy asked, choosing to ignore his dig at her natural-born awesomeness.

"Huh? Oh, not really. You?" Danny seemed unusually distracted and tense. And kinda sweaty.

"No I don't. Are you okay?" Mindy asked. Just when she thought things weren't weird between them he starts acting odd. Usually Danny loved telling her all about the new Springsteen Show he had tickets for or whatever.

But today something was different.

"You wanna have dinner tonight?" Danny blurted out, his voice a few decibels too high.

"What?" Whoa. That was definitely not what she was expecting him to say. Was Danny trying to…?

"I mean you said you had no plans and there's this new Thai restaurant near your place so I thought -" Ok he was literally sweating buckets now; she had to put him out of his misery.

"Oh. Yeah. Sure! Why didn't you say so, Danny?" She squeezed his arm before smiling. "Be at my place by 8!" He seemed to calm after that and they walked on in companionable silence. Mindy let a string of fantastical scenarios run through her head. She felt it best to let those particular thoughts go unspoken.

* * *

This was a date, right? Of course it was a date. No. Wait. She had told him she wasn't dating right now. Dinner between friends? I mean they'd had dinner together a million times before. Like that pizza place. Or that sushi place. Or that one time she'd dragged him to eat at the food truck that sold crepes and waffles all day. This was just like that. Right?

But.

"Mindy, do you want to order?" Danny gently prompted and Mindy realized the waiter was impatiently standing in front of her. When had he got there?

"Uh yeah." She hadn't even looked at the menu even though she'd had it open on the table the whole time. She quickly picked her go-to Pad Thai dish to save face.

Stupid Danny. Stupid unreadable Danny. Stupid No Dating. Stupid delicious Thai food. Stupid –

"Earth to Mindy? I asked you how your food is. Are you okay?" Now it was Danny's turn to look concerned as Mindy fumbled with the situation they were in.

Earlier in the day it had been Danny who had acted like a nutjob. How dare he turn the tables on her!

Mindy was starting to resent Danny and her feelings for him and all this unspoken crap. She had been single for way too long and now here was a golden opportunity with a guy she really really really really liked and she wasn't even sure how he felt. She **always** knew how the guy felt, otherwise there was no point! One thing was for sure, Mindy was definitely **not** used to holding still.

She attacked her food in frustrated anger. Danny didn't seem to notice though. Probably just thought she was really hungry. Mindy rolled her eyes. Men.

* * *

Mindy and Danny began walking from the restaurant towards Mindy's place. Mindy's mind was racing. They were going to make it to her door and she would still have no answers. Just a million questions and one annoyingly handsome jerk who needed some sense knocked into him.

And at the moment Danny was filling in the silence with some useless, irrelevant and completely unromantic nonsense about the New York Mets.

Mindy couldn't take it anymore.

"I LIKE YOU!" She shouted seemingly at the top of her lungs.

"What?" Danny almost tripped over his own surprise at the non-sequitur she had just thrown at him.

"I like you, Danny. And I haven't dated anyone since Christmas. I've been sitting here like a moron waiting for you to make your move and then you ask me to dinner but we still both pay our own share and you don't say anything and I keep waiting." Mindy rambled.

"You said you weren't going to date anyone right now." Danny offered hesitantly.

"I like you." Pouted in reply, frustrated and a little bit embarrassed but mostly impatient.

A smug grin appeared on Danny's face and Mindy immediately regretted her confession.

What had she done? She had blurted out her feelings like some kind of crazy stalker schoolgirl with a crush. Now she would probably never hear the end of it. Daniel Castellano was going to lord her feelings over her for the rest of her life, she was sure of it. Oh god, she should just flee to her apartment now while she still had the chance…

"Really?" Danny asked, studying Mindy's face for confirmation and suddenly it wasn't arrogance she saw on his face but hope.

"Yeah." Mindy replied, now only a whisper remaining as her frustration made way for nervousness. She realized how important this moment was. This was big. How typical of her to just barge right through it.

"I like you too." He took a step closer, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. "A lot." Danny gave her a lopsided smile.

"Really?" Echoed back in her sweetest voice.

"Yes." Danny chuckled. "I have for a long time now, Min."

"Oh, Danny." She practically had stars in her eyes.

Danny leaned forward, pressing his lips to hers and tangling his hands in her hair. It was the middle of February but all Mindy could feel was heat emanating through her core. He was patient, probing, passionate with his kiss. But there was something else, a tenderness that surprised Mindy. She felt her stomach drop to the pavement and her heart sing.

"Uh." Was all Mindy could manage when they broke apart. In all their years of bantering, Danny had never succeeded at making her speechless, until now.

"In case there was any doubt left about whether or not this was a date." Danny explained, a mischievous sparkle in his eyes.


	4. Hurry Up And Wait

"So..." Mindy finally found her voice again. "Do you want to come up?"

Danny raised his eyebrows, again caught by surprise. "I..." He hesitated.

Idiot, moron, weirdo, of course he didn't want to come up. Wait why didn't he want to come up?

The disappointment must have been very clear on her face because Danny immediately moved to take Mindy's hand in his own.

"Look Mindy, don't take this the wrong way." He said, slowly, carefully. "I don't want to rush things. I want this to be different. For both of us. If we fall into old patterns, I mean I..." He looked down for a moment before summoning up his courage. Laying all his cards on the table. "I really want this to work."

Mindy's heart melted just a little bit more. Danny Castellano was always full of surprises. "Me too, Danny." She squeezed his hand. "I haven't had sex in months, what's a little bit longer?" Mindy shrugged.

* * *

Danny tried his best to act casual as he walked into work that morning. Sure, he and Mindy had had their moment and things were fantastic, but the last thing he wanted was other people getting nosy and into their business.

Dating someone you work with was not something he was used to. Not just the physical aspect, everything had to be carried out with a great deal of consideration. They had to tread lightly, take the whole thing slow.

He was so lucky that Mindy was on board with that.

Casual, nothing out of the ordinary, status quo. He had to maintain the normal working relationship so no one would catch on.

Problem was that he hadn't been with Mindy since the weekend and he was - he hated to admit it - kind of excited to see her again.

Oh man, he was such a doofus.

"Dr. C!" Morgan greeted, giving Danny a too-strong pat on the back.

"Hey Morgan, how's it going?"

"Dr. L was looking for you."

"Uh, yeah? She was?" Normal, he had to act normal. No biggie.

"Yeah, she's in her office I think." Morgan wandered off, calling out to Tamra as soon as he saw her.

Danny walked into Mindy's office and carefully shut the door behind him.

"Hey."

Mindy smiled brightly at him as he entered the room. "Hey!"

Did she always look this beautiful? Oh crap. He was so screwed, wasn't he?

"What's wrong, Danny, you're all flustered?" Mindy walked over, concerned. She placed her hand on his cheek.

"Mindy we, um, I, we shouldn't." He babbled, sweating profusely.

"Shouldn't what?" She purred, moving closer. "I've been thinking about you all weekend."

"We're at work." He squeaked out.

"Mm-hmm. Doesn't that make it even sexier?" Mindy pushed forward.

Before he could respond, her lips were on his. And oh man, if he had thought kissing her the first time had been good, this was something else entirely. She was as enthusiastic as she always was about everything, except this time the focus of that energy was him. And it was driving him out of his mind.

Screw being professional!

Danny moved his hands to her hips and pulled her closer.

As soon as he did so she broke off from their kiss.

"Min?"

"Oh wait, you said that we're taking it slow, right?" She pretended to recall suddenly.

With a playful flounce she was out the door leaving Danny to stand in her office very confused and horribly aroused.

She was going to be the end of him.


	5. We Can't Stop (We Won't Stop)

Okay fine maybe she was playing dirty, but a girl has needs! She was all for waiting and breaking old patterns and all that junk but Mindy also couldn't wait to get Danny alone. She had waited so long for this and now the man was going to deliver, dammit! She would make sure of it.

Mindy continued to get a rise out of Danny whenever she got the chance, tossing a wink his way when she was certain no one was looking, bending over to pick up her pen whenever he was in visual range (the Bend and Snap, works every time, ladies! Reese Witherspoon taught her that).

All in all she was enjoying herself far too much, when Danny finally dragged her into the mechanical room at lunch time.

"Danny, what are you doing?"

"What are **you** doing?" Danny hissed. "We're at work, Mindy!"

"Hey, I haven't even touched you since I remembered that we're 'taking it slow'" Mindy feigned innocence.

Danny let out a shuddering sigh. "No more hare-brained schemes. It is not fun being on the other end of one of these!"

"Well it's up to you and all but you can change your stance on going slow any time you want to." Mindy shrugged. "I don't mind, I'm cool like that."

Danny's demeanour changed from frustrated to smug. "You want me."

"I what?" Oh no. There was no way he was turning this around on her.

Except now he had an almost-predatory look in his eyes and it was getting her all hot and bothered.

"You want me bad, Mindy Lahiri."

There was no point in denying it because as soon as he pushed her up against the wall her hands were already pulling him closer. Mindy threaded her fingers through the back of his hair, urging each kiss to deepen. Danny's hands glided effortlessly over her body, the need to memorize every curve growing stronger.

Their tongues grazed each other and the hot friction continued to build. Danny slipped one hand beneath Mindy's blouse, skimming the bottom of her bra. He could hear a soft moan reverberate from the depths of her throat.

That's when they both realized Taking It Slow wasn't going to cut it.

"My place? Eight o'clock?" Mindy panted out as they quickly broke apart.

"Sounds good." Danny attempted to agree nonchalantly but his mussed up hair gave him away. He nodded and briskly opened the door to leave and compose himself.

Now all Mindy had to do was get through the rest of the work day. It was going to be unbearable.


End file.
